Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to welding masks and utility shields. More specifically, the present invention pertains to a cold weather welding mask that prevents humidity from building up as condensation on the welding lens as a user's expelled breath turns into condensation that readily fogs over the lens. The device includes a heated, forced air means and lens heating element to maintain vision through the lens when utilized in cold climates.
Welding operations involve a joining process of metal or thermoplastic material, wherein the two materials are melted together in conjunction with a filler material to create a permanent bond therebetween. The welding process involves a high energy sources that expel tremendous levels of light and heat that can be hazardous to be in proximity to without proper safeguards. Generally the welding process is conducted using a hand tool to establish the welding bond line and to control the application of heat and filler material being inserted into the joint. This requires skill and experience to master, but also requires a worker to be very close to the work piece and thus the high energy source.
To protect the welder, the user is generally adorned in heavy, non-flammable garments, welding gloves to protect his or her hands, and finally a welding mask to shield the user's face from the products of the welding process. The brightness and intensity of the welding process can cause severe injuries to the user's eyes and even burning of the user's face. Open exposure to the brightness can lead to inflammation of the cornea and even burns to the retina. Therefore, most welding masks are full-face and include a darkened lens that allows the welder to visualize the joint and the welding process while the arc is visible. The lens is darkened to reduce the transmission to the user's eyes, therefore reducing any damage thereto from direct viewing. A final concern for welders is the exposure of the welder to the noxious gases and particulate matter from the welding process. Various oxides in the fumes and those containing heavy metals from the welding process can be hazardous if inhaled, particularly over the long term. Therefore the welding process is conducted in a ventilated area if possible, however this is not always possible and therefore exposure is inevitable in some cases.
While most available welding masks provide a means of shielding the user's face and eyes from the welding flame, they provide little in the way of ventilation or condensation removal. Operating in colder climates and in outdoor environments, in particular, where the air can be below freezing, can lead to condensation build-up within the mask, fogging of the mask lens, and frosting of the interior of the mask while in use. Some available welding masks provide a means of ventilating the interior of a mask; however these are largely ineffective in very cold climates for those welders operating outdoors on pipelines and the like.
The present invention provides a new and novel welding mask that includes a forced air means and a heating means that directs heated air into the interior of the welding mask. This elevates the temperature within the mask for user comfort and also prevents fogging of the welding mask caused by the user's breath and built-up condensation. To further facilitate this, the welding lens itself may further incorporate a plurality of resistive heating elements therein to directly heat the lens for combatting lens fogging. Overall the device comprises a unitary welding mask having the attached elements, or alternatively the heating means and forced air means may be clipped onto an existing, conventional welding mask to update its general use for that of colder, outdoor climates.
Description of the Prior Art
Devices have been disclosed in the prior art that relate to welding masks and those that include forced are means. These include devices that have been patented and published in patent application publications, and generally relate to welding masks that utilize exterior air and a forced air means to circulate air for ventilation purposes. None of the devices contemplates a heating element that would make the mask suitable for cold, outdoor welding climates where a user's breath can create condensation, lens fogging, and interior ice buildup. The following is a list of devices deemed most relevant to the present disclosure, which are herein described for the purposes of highlighting and differentiating the unique aspects of the present invention, and further highlighting the drawbacks existing in the prior art.
Specifically, U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,178,932 and 7,534,005 to Buckman disclose a self-contained welding helmet that improves ventilation of air through the helmet to protect the welder from noxious fumes during a welding process and for reducing lens condensation. The helmet includes an electrically driven fan along the front wall of the helmet that draws air through air inlet port and an air filter. The filtered air is then directed upward against the helmet lens to reduce condensation and downwards to vent air out of the helmet. The fan is driven by a power source that can be charged by a photovoltaic element along the upper portion of the helmet. The Buckman devices, while providing a ventilated welding mask, fails to disclose a heating means such that the mask would be appropriate for welding use in extremely cold climates.
Another such device is U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,114 to Desanti, which discloses a ventilated welding mask having an exterior housing for drawing in and directing an air flow through a conduit and thereafter through a metering manifold within the mask interior. The manifold allows the user to control the flow air entering the mask by blocking the flow therethrough. A second medical chamber within the exterior housing may further comprise a carbon dioxide cooling medium for sending a stream of cooled air onto the interior surface of the welding mask for cooling and comfort of the user. Similar to the Buckman devices, the Desanti device fails to contemplate a heating means.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,896,579 to Johnson is another such device that discloses a welding helmet with an air circulating cooling system that utilizes evaporative cooling and a fan to move clean, cooled air into the helmet interior during welding operation. A moistened evaporative cooling pad is dampened by a cooling water storage bottle by way of a moistened wick, which is utilized in conjunction with an electric fan to cool the user while welding. While evaporative cooling is useful for cooling a welder, this is not required nor desired in colder climates. The goal of the present invention is to provide a moisture reducing mask interior environment, and one that is warmed when compared to the exterior air for both comfort and for maintaining vision though the welding mask lens.
Other work mask devices that include a ventilation means include U.S. Pat. No. 4,293,757 to Niemi and U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,480 to Bare. The Niemi device describes a welding helmet with a pneumatically controlled dark eye lens and a helmet ventilation means for communicating a fresh supply of air into the helmet interior. The Bare device describes pneumatic system for a welding mask. While this is very useful for operatively protecting the user's eyes and ventilating the mask interior, the system of the Bare device is outside of the scope of that desired by the present invention, while the purpose of the Bare device is diverging in concept.
The present invention pertains to cold climate welding mask for those that engage in welding processes in extremely cold climates and in outdoor spaces. These environments cause a user's breath to condense and to fog the interior of the mask lens, and further to crystallize along the interior of the mask. Neither of these is desired. Finally, user comfort is accounted for, wherein a heating means not only reduces condensation, but also warms the user while in the harshly cold environment. It is submitted that the present invention substantially diverges in design elements from the prior art, and consequently it is clear that there is a need in the art for an improvement to existing cold climate welding mask devices. In this regard the instant invention substantially fulfills these needs.